We dispatch Monday and Tuesday- please allow us time before this for preparing your order.

We send a dispatch email once we have sent your plants letting you know when they should arrive

Your plants will be delivered by parcel courier

Sorry, no orders or payments can be accepted by telephone.

You can order and pay online through our online Plant Shop. You may also order online then send a cheque as payment - if you choose this route then please send payment within 3 days of placing your order. Sorry, but we can't offer telephone ordering, back ordering, reserve plants or offer printed catalogues and the nursery is not open to visitors. We run a small business by ourselves and need to keep things simple and streamlined for us to work efficiently. We simply can't be all things to all people!

We regret that we need to impose a modest minimum order quantity of £15.00 (5 or 6 plants usually). The high relative cost of postage makes very small orders unprofitable for us and unnecessarily costly for you.

If you intend a larger order (more than 64 plants) then please contact us to discuss your requirements but please note - we are simply not geared up to offering the quantities of plants often demanded by garden designers, landscapers and large schemes; it's just not what we do. We deliberately keep relatively low stock levels of each plant on our order system (it helps us keep it more accurate, strangely) so that every plant ordered is available and delivered. The system will prevent you ordering more than we have stock of and if you want more you will need to contact us. We grow many thousands of plants each year but only in relatively small batches per variety.

If you have any questions about ordering, plants, availability, delivery - in fact, anything - please use the Contact Us form and we will reply as soon as we can. Please be patient - we are often extremely busy.

We are an entirely online business, not telephone based, so please use email or our Contact Us page.

Delivery

We can also deliver plants to your local Post Office for you to collect.

Delivery is by parcel courier - we only use Parcelforce.

Parcelsdo not need signing for but are still fully tracked - no more waiting in all day!

Dispatch days are Monday and Tuesday - our parcel collection is around lunch time.

Delivery to all of mainland UK is £7.95for up to 32 plants - for clarity, thisapplies to any mainland destination including the Scottish Highlands.

As above, but 32 to 64 plants, the cost is £15.95 Please tick the appropriate box at the checkout stage.

For island destinations and Northern Ireland the cost is £19.95. We regret high charges but we simply charge you what we are charged.

You should normally receive your plants within 10 days of ordering (probably sooner).

How can you help us give you the best delivery service?

Tell us your 'Safe Place'. Parcelforce can leave a parcel without signature in your designated 'Safe Place'. Many of our customers are happy for parcels to be left in a front porch, in the greenhouse or with a neighbour, etc. - simply tell us where. However, It is only fair we point out that Parcelforce will reject claims for non-delivery (and rightly so) but every parcel is still tracked right to its destination - even the delivery vans are GPS tracked and recorded.

Give us your mobile phone number. Parcelforce can then send a text message (SMS) on the morning of delivery day so you can make arrangements for receiving your parcel. Your number will only be used for this purpose.

Ask us to deliver to your local Post Office. A useful option if you are out most days or you wouldn't feel happy with a parcel being left at your door. You do need to be able to collect the parcel yourself during Post Office hours of course and you will probably need a form of identification with you, but this option might suit your circumstances. Please be aware that larger orders may be quite heavy for carrying. We use your postcode to locate your Post Office.

Ask for delivery elsewhere - you may have plants delivered to, for example, your place of work, a friend or relative or a neighbour. An option to change the delivery address is available as you pass through checkout.

Do you live in a rural area? We do too and are aware of the problems with getting reliable deliveries. Parcelforce has strong links with Royal Mail and often hand parcels to them for final delivery in remote areas. It's an excellent service although parcels often take an extra day to arrive.

We always dispatch as quickly as we can but please bear in mind there might be a delay in receiving your plants - plants need to be dry to pack and travel well and this may take 2 or 3 days before dispatch. We can also be hampered by the weather as we can't dispatch orders at all during periods of severe weather. If we anticipate extended delay we will keep you advised by email.

We try to collate all orders for dispatch on Mondays and Tuesdays to prevent plants sitting boxed-up over the weekends, either before or during delivery, so expect to receive your plants Wednesday to Friday. You will receive an email from us once we have dispatched your order, estimating your day of delivery.

Non delivery - where are my plants!

Thankfully, this rarely happens but things can go wrong - weather events, breakdowns, illness etc. As explained above, you should normally expect to receive your order by the day you were advised in our automated dispatch email.

You must tell us if your plants do not arrive as planned, preferably by email or our Contact Us page and preferably on the same evening of your expected delivery day. In all but very rare and exceptional circumstances your plants will probably arrive only one day late - but please let us investigate as soon as we can to reduce any further delays. Your plants are our responsibility until they are delivered. We want you to be happy when you open your box of plants!

Payment

Pay securely online. Pay with most credit and debit cards using our payment partner, Nochex, who are a respected, independent provider of electronic payment services, based in the U.K. We never see your card details - these are handled securely (data encrypted) by Nochex and only the payment is sent to our account. Nochex also offer Mastercard Securecode and Verified by Visa - additional card security measures to protect you (and us) from fraud. Please note - your payment will show on your bank statement as 'NOCHEX', not Craigiehall Nursery.

Pay by cheque. You may also place your order online as normal but at the payment stage, click 'Send Payment by Post' then do just that - send us a cheque by post for plants, plus the correct amount for delivery. Obviously this is a bit slower, but if you are more comfortable with this, then please use this method. Please be sure to send your payment promptly - we may cancel any outstanding orders that are clogging our system. By placing your order online first, it 'books' your plants on our system and avoids plants being sold out before a mail order arrives.

We can not accept orders or payments by telephone.

V.A.T. We are not required to be registered for V.A.T.

Security and your privacy.

We value your privacy

We do not store your personal details

We do not send marketing emails, news letters etc.

We do not pass on any details to third parties

This site does not use cookies

We will not collect or store your personal details except on paperwork we are required to keep in our records in the normal routine of carrying out business. We will not retain or pass on your email address, postal address or telephone number. We will not contact you by email or by telephone, except as required in fulfilling your order or dealing with enquiries.This site does not use cookies to gather or store information about you or your shopping habits.

Unsure about buying plants online?

Please read our About Us page and you will see we are not a face-less business, unlike many online shops. You know who you will be dealing with and who to contact if things go wrong - good, old-fashioned service but handled in a modern way. We trade on an honest, moral basis - we are people too! Also, please see our Returns section below.

Alpine plants are well suited to being packed up and 2 or 3 days in a box won't harm them - nurseries have been sending plants by mail-order for many decades. We receive constant praise from customers on our efficient packing method using reused and recyclable 'green' packaging.

Every plant in our Plant Shop is propagated and grown by us, then photographed and described by us, so we hope you can be entirely sure of what you are ordering.

Returns (and what to do if things go wrong)

In the unlikely event of you being unhappy with plants you have received - please Contact Us without delay and we will aim to sort things out to your satisfaction. You also have statutory protection under the Consumer Contract Regulations. Plants, being perishable, are excluded from parts of this legislation. We may accept returns at our discretion and only by arrangement. Return postage is the responsibility of the customer. Subject to plants being received back in good condition, we shall issue a prompt refund including your original delivery charge.

Please contact us if you have any concerns about your purchase. Mistakes can happen and we aren't immune from human error. Please use our Contact Us form or send an email - we do not do business over the telephone. Please be assured that we will attend to any complaint or dissatisfaction you may have in a friendly and courteous manner - complaints will be dealt with quickly and without fuss.

Our plants are grown to very high standards but we can't offer any guarantee on plants once you have accepted them and they are in your care. Sadly, nature sometimes has her way and we can't be responsible for that but we will consider any genuine complaint. If you subsequently discover plants are wrongly labelled (once they flower, for example) then naturally, we would hope to rectify that. Our liability is restricted to the original price of the plant(s) and we will refund only that amount.

Finally, and to end on a positive note - what to do if things go right! We do hope your purchase from us will be a happy and rewarding one and if it is, please let us (and others) know by leaving a comment on our Reviews page. A little praise, when deserved, helps us all. Thank you.